Research Methods in Politics 9

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Research Methods in Politics9

• Asking Questions

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Teaching and Learning Objectives

1. to distinguish between the different types of
   questions and structures of interviews
2. to understand who are political elites, why we
   interview them and how to secure an appointment
3. to consider how the interview should be carried
   out and recorded
4. to learn how interviews with other people differ
   from those with political elites
5. to learn what is meant by projective questions
   and when they can be used
6. to consider why, when and where vignettes can
   be used and how they can be framed
7. to understand the value of focus groups and other
   group meetings, and how to organise and
   facilitate them.

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Questions

• obtain information in the form of answers
• closed questions
• open questions
• supplementary questions
• highly-structured interviews
• unstructured interviews
• semi-structured interviews
• rapport

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Interviews

• conversations with purpose
• elite interviews
• other interviews
• difficult questions
• projective techniques
• vignettes

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Interviewing Political Elites

• Who?
• ministers
• MPs
• senior civil servants
• business leaders
• union leaders
• think tanks
• journalists
• others who influence outcomes

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Interviewing Political Elites

• Why?
• to confirm (our understanding of) documentary
  material
• to fill gaps or clarify grey areas
• to check Have I got the story right?
• to try to understand their perceptions, beliefs,
  mindsets, i.e. underlying psychology
• to obtain quotable quotes
• to help identify other actors involved
• to identify networks
• to facilitate to open the way to interviews with
  others
• to triangulate, i.e. to corroborate (check, test)
  accounts from other interviews

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Interviewing Political Elites

• Why do elites agree?
• benefits outweigh costs
• persuaded of importance of research
• goes with territory
• set the record straight
• rules of game agreed
• in confidence
• off-the-record
• on-the-record
• attributable/ unattributable
• anonymisation

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The Process (UK)

• adopt multi-track strategy
• select target elites
• research background
• write letter
• telephone to agree place, date, time of interview
• carry semi-structured, interview schedule with
  potential supplementary questions and recoding
  device
• transcribe

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The Interview

• preparation
• social protocols of dress and hospitality
• habitat
• Mayos advice
• silence
• eye-contact
• elites verbal and non-verbal behaviour
• note-taking
• writing-up
• follow-on

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Interview Structure (UK)

• introduction and pleasantries
• number of questions
• depths of inquiry 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• ideal 1-2-3-4-5
• ending
• are there any questions which you believe that I
  should have asked but didnt?
• can you recommend other people who I should also
  speak to?

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Other Interviewees

• apathetic, wary, hostile
• unused to interviews
• language barriers
• comments
• pariah topics
• mirroring
• stress
• pace
• silence

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Transcribing
Interviewer AOO1 Notes Interviewee Analysis
4 sec pause. rubs chin 7 sec pause looks up to see reaction telephone rings in outer office Q. 001 And what was your 002 reaction to the news? A. coughs 003 I rushed to the House 004 immediately to . . . 005 offer my support to . . 006 . . . Ken wary of expressing real intention? support? Was he really a strong supporter of Ken or did he regard him as most likely winner and wish to see what advantage he could gain ? Or did he lie low until the outcome became clearer ?
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Difficult Questions and Subjects

• projective techniques
• quick-fire word association
• quick-fire closed questions
• nothing unusual
• substitute if by when
• lists
• vignettes
• Short stories of hypothetical characters in
  particular situations and dilemmas

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Focus Groups

• hall trial, consumer panel, citizen jury
• facilitation
• number
• nominations and invitations
• place, duration and hospitality
• layout
• notes and recording
• split-half strategy

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Questions for Discussion or Assignments I

• Draft letters to each of the following seeking an
  interview to learn their views on the use of
  military options to counter terrorism
• George Bush
• Tony Blair
• President Chirac
• Martin MacGuiness
• 2. The (Labour) Leader of the city council in the
  north of England has agreed to be interviewed on
  the subject of corruption in local government.
  Your research hypothesis is that standards of
  public office are locally contingent and
  emergent rather than absolute. A recent press
  report alleged that the leader had favoured a
  cousin in a construction contract. Draft a
  semi-structured interview schedule. Complete and
  video record an in-class simulation in which two
  students separately interview the Leader of the
  council (who is best played by the course teacher
  or a mature postgraduate). Contrast and compare
  the interviews.

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Questions for Discussion or Assignments II

• A bacon factory in a nearby market town
  slaughters and packs pork in a continuous,
  industrialised process. It employs over two
  thousand workers. The majority are young women
  who are bussed-in from villages in the upland
  areas. Union membership is low and staff turnover
  high. The management recognises USDAW for pay
  etc. negotiations. Your hypothesis is that
  membership is low because of a combination of a
  rural culture of deference, the portrayal by
  managers of the union as a big city thing and
  the domination of union offices by men. The HR
  staff and union have nominated a cross-section of
  female workers for you to interview in paid time
  as a group and singly. Draft a semi-structured
  interview schedule to be used in individual
  meetings with the workers. How would you organise
  and structure a focus group of the workers?
  Simulate, contrast and compare the interview and
  meeting.
• 4. You have arranged to meet a newly-retired
  infantry major who took part in the invasion of
  Iraq. He strenuously denies that torture is used
  by British soldiers. Design a series of vignettes
  to test your hypothesis that undue pressure was
  exerted by some soldiers on prisoners to obtain
  information with the knowledge of their officers
  who turned a blind eye to these practices.